Serious about doing something innovative? Be prepared to spend many long, focused hours working on it (and working and working and reworking...)

"We want to believe that creativity and innovation come in flashes of pure brilliance," Janet Rae-Dupree writes in the New York Times. But, "Innovation is a slow process of accretion, building small insight upon interesting fact upon tried-and-true process. Just as an oyster wraps layer upon layer of nacre atop an offending piece of sand, ultimately yielding a pearl, innovation percolates within hard work over time."

"'The most useful way to think of epiphany is as an occasional bonus of working on tough problems,' explains Scott Berkun in his 2007 book, The Myths of Innovation. 'The goal isn't the magic moment: it's the end result of a useful innovation.'"

The article also quotes Jim Marggraff, creator of an interactive world globe called the Odyssey Atlasphere, and the LeapPad reading platform for children, among others. "The 'aha' moments grow out of hours of thought and study," he says. "If you look at my innovations, there's a common theme. I take something familiar, intuitive and ubiquitous, and recast it in a manner that will redefine its use to drive profound change."

Of course, which famous inventor explained this to us early in the 20th century? Who else but Thomas Edison. A bit of quick research gives us his famous quote in an expanded context:

"None of my inventions came by accident. I see a worthwhile need to be met and I make trial after trial until it comes. What it boils down to is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration."

In an interview in Harpers magazine, February 1890 (stay tuned here at Heart Of Innovation as we present the latest, greatest breakthroughs! ; ) , Edison explained his method:

"I would construct a theory and work on its lines until I found it was untenable. ... I speak without exaggeration when I say that I have constructed 3,000 different theories in connection with the electric light, each one of them reasonable and apparently likely to be true. Yet only in two cases did my experiments prove the truth of my theory."

On an intuitive level everyone knows the meaning of the expression "Street Smarts." In our context let's define it as the combination of life experience, intelligence, awareness, cleverness, guile, humor, ingenuity, agility and ability acquired beyond (or in place of) formal education. (For those without a big-city background, we can include "Farm Smarts" as an equivalent of street smarts.)

Street smarts are a very valuable commodity in the conduct of our lives. Each of us has a degree of street smarts/farm smarts, and we use it all the time in our personal lives.

So why isn't it used more in business?

Is it that street smarts are sort of an informal asset, tough to explain and model, and difficult to apply to specific situations?

Is it because it doesn't lend itself well to PowerPoint presentations?

Aren't street smarts more useful than traditional applied business theory in on-the-run, fluid situations that require more innovation than theory can provide?

Folks, successful and vibrant business is fluid, on-the-run, and innovative.

We have the most highly educated, literate, articulate and engaged workforce on the planet. While the highest levels of formal education might not have been achieved by many, almost all are brimming with street smarts.

And they want to make a contribution! Just ask them.

Create a formal environment where your employees are encouraged and rewarded for making contributions of their street smarts, their intelligence, awareness, cleverness, ability and ingenuity in order to fuel the company's innovative efforts, and you will be rewarded beyond your dreams.

Idea Champions is a consulting and training company dedicated to awakening and nurturing the spirit of innovation. We help individuals, teams and entire organizations tap into their innate ability to create, develop and implement ideas that make a difference.

Cultivating Innovation
Your "best and brightest" are the future leaders of your company, but unless they know how to foster a culture of innovation, their impact will be limited. A one-day workshop with us is all they need to begin this journey.

Our Blog Cabin
Our Heart of Innovation blog is a daily destination for movers and shakers everywhere — gleefully produced by our President, Mitch Ditkoff, voted "best innovation blogger in the world" two years running.

What's the Problem
Einstein once said that if he had 60 minutes to solve a problem, he'd spend the first 55 thinking about the problem, and the next 5 solving it. This is the workshop he would have invented if time wasn't so relative.

Team Innovation
Innovation is a team sport. Brilliant ideas go nowhere unless your people are aligned, collaborative, and team-oriented. That doesn't happen automatically, however. It takes intention, clarity, selflessness, and a new way of operating.